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When Should a Support Roam?

PorkNasty·10/6/2015, 3:42:40 PM·2 votes·3,767 views

I've played quite a bit of ADC this season and I notice a lot of times my support is roaming mid. Sometimes it works out for the mid sometimes it doesn't but in all cases I feel like I lose out on farm and sometimes end up dying 2v1 to a tower dive because my supp isn't bot. Most recently, in ranked, I was twitch w/ a Thresh vs a Trist and a Blitz, we killed the Blitz, went back to shop and my supp Thresh goes mid. I die 2v1 to the Trist/Blitz and our advantage is gone. I don't feel like I should be left 2v1 when we're winning lane, why not just continue to win the lane? When my supp leaves and I'm 2v1 between the outer turrets, I can't farm. I have to hug tower and farm under tower because if I step out into lane it's 2v1 and I'm dead. Not to mention if they see my supp mid on the mini-map they know they can tower dive, depending on their comp. So any advantage that we have is given back to the enemy supp and adc every second that my supp spends roaming.

When is the proper time for a supp to roam? When I play supp I stay glued to my adc, if they have an advantage I try to increase that advantage, I would only roam if they are safely farming under the inner turret after the outer turret has fallen. Should I be more open to my supp roaming mid early and trying to gank for mid or should I be doing this as well??

10 Comments

KingWanahakalugi10/6/2015, 6:41:25 PM2 votes

Alright supp main incoming: There are certain situations where a support should NEVER leave his adc, but in most cases I feel the support is fine roaming as far as mid lane. In extremely rare situations, it's ok for a support to even roam top as long as there is jungle presence on bot side. Supports should not roam before your carry is level 8 in my opinion. As an adc, you HAVE to know how to farm under turret. Support roaming is one of the best tools in a teams kit in my opinion. Are you going to lose some farm? Yes. Are they going to push into you? Yes. Does this make you vulnerable to a dive? Yes. Here are the things I look at when I'm looking to roam:

Is mid pushing to a position that I can make a play?

Does my carry have all his tools to potentially fight a dive? (Particularly his/her ult)

Have I built my carry a substantial enough lead that they can make it back to turret?

And in cases where our lane is quite far behind:

Is our carry worth anything at the moment?

Are our other lanes even or behind?

Can I help our other lanes gain a higher advantage by helping?

Can our carry catch up by gaining solo experience and farm?

Have the enemies left lane to gain advantage in other lanes?

Are we at a large disadvantage of gold in this lane?

On the top questions, if I answer no to any of them I will stay with my carry. On the lower questions, I will roam in most cases if I can answer yes to at least 2 of those questions. My thought process for roaming when you're behind is to let you try to scale faster. You are already behind and by leeching exp off you I'm not helping in any way, shape, or form. I have no issue leaving a late game hypercarry who's behind to sit and farm. If I know you are going to outscale them eventually, I will get everyone else snowballing to give you the best chance to catch up, and have them carry us to the late game where you are going to excel.

This is just my thought process. You may like it; you may not. There's more that goes through my head too, but this is just the bare bones of it.

IcyPepper10/6/2015, 3:48:40 PM1 votes

Try to be a little more open.

Generally, a support roams once you've hit the stage you can be independent. This is general around level 6-9 (or even earlier, if you're fed). If you're behind, the support either babysits you further (no offense) or essentially abandons you to get a teammate fed that can roam to bot lane and get you back in the game.

I know that sounds a little cold, but the support supports the team, not just you. A good support is going to be pragmatic and do what it takes to win. If you're a hypercarry and being best friends with you all game is the way to win, they will do it. Supporting the fed Irelia who can gank bot lane? They can do that too. Dropping a few wards in river and helping the jungler set up dragon or invade the enemy jungle? That works too.

A support's time is money, and I don't mean cs. They should be roaming for a reason, not for the hell of it.

Final Boss Naut10/6/2015, 3:52:32 PM1 votes

usually a support will roam when he feels you can safely get farm if played correctly, or when his presence will benefit another more than you. he cant know whether you cant or can dodge that grab, thereby ending your life, he just trusts you to handle your business.

Lugg10/6/2015, 4:21:33 PM1 votes

It depends on your ADC. If you feel confident that your ADC can survive solo in lane, roam all the time. This lets you pressure other lanes by helping the jungler gank. Plus you can do invades to deep ward. These things really help your team snowball.

Swollwonder10/6/2015, 6:19:16 PM1 votes

{quoted}

we killed the Blitz, went back to shop and my supp Thresh goes mid. I die 2v1 to the Trist/Blitz and our advantage is gone.

YOU died. Your sup did not make you leave tower. Yes blitz is a really heavy zoner but would you rather miss 50 gold or give the enemy 300?

Now on to the topic. Typically a sup should roam when one of the following happens (this covers the entire game):

-The enemy adc (and possible support depending on the match up) has been killed and wards are up for possible ganks

-The adc is backing and the sup does not have the gold or need to heal at fountain

-the bot turret has been lost and the adc is csing within your half of the lane

-your adc is so fed they can survive on their own

The amount of time a sup is gone typically is what more people should complain about IMO. Everything from the adc you're supporting to how fed the enemy laner is should influence it. For example, Caitlyn and Ezreal are very safe adcs to take advantage of roaming while adcs like your Twitch and Varus are very bad to roam with (the golden rule of thumb is do they have a gap closer).

This is a really in depth topic with TONS of scenarios to consider with exceptions to every one. But a roaming sup is trying to get better and take their supporting to the next tier. You can't fault a player too much for at least TRYING to do better.

DokiDokiTodoroki10/6/2015, 6:50:35 PM1 votes

I played a game as Veigar where the enemy Nami showed up mid lane once at level 1, and once at level 3. Her adc was Twitch. Her ganks accomplished nothing, and as someone who plays support a lot I was constantly wondering wtf she was doing in my lane.

It's probably because of world right now, and how supports are making big plays roaming mid or top. Everyone wants to be the next Piccaboo. Personally, I think that's ridiculous. Those roams are coordinated among a team of five players in constant communication who have practiced this with each other. They have incredible knowledge on how resources work and how sending a level 2 support mid will impact the game if he continues to stay there and doesn't rotate like he should. The supports themselves have top tier mechanics and decision making.

You need to decide based on the situation. If your ADC is a Tristana that's 2-3 kills ahead, leave them a couple of wards and go roam if your mid is behind. Or, you can stay and snowball your lane even further. It's up to you. Also, a roaming Janna or Sona is going to have less aggressive impact than a Thresh or Blitzcrank.